Tattoo
by El loopy
Summary: Moana has an big decision to make. Maui x Moana fluff. Can be read as platonic or otherwise. Oneshot.


Tattoo

"So…I've got to pick my tattoo."

Maui stopped tying off the rope he was holding and glanced at Moana over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised. She had her back to him, fiddling with one of the sails. She had tried to go for an off-hand tone, but he could tell from here that she wasn't doing anything purposeful with that sail. Girl had something on her mind, and suddenly her innocent suggestion that they go for this sail together without the fleet became highly suspect.

"Big decision," he responded in an equally casual tone, almost sarcastic, watching her without turning around. He saw her shoulders stiffen in annoyance and smirked. He did enjoy needling her.

"Yeah, it is actually." She spun around, one hand on her hip, the other on her necklace.

He gave a nonchalant shrug and went back to the rope tying.

"Well, I suppose for you mortals, when you don't have as awesome a bod as this," he flexed and could practically hear her roll her eyes. "I mean, not everyone has their tats applied by mystical forces. I'd be worried someone might mess up too."

She'd gone all quiet. Strange. He didn't _think_ he'd said anything especially insensitive. His eyes dropped to mini-Maui who was tapping his foot – arms folded – and pointed meaningfully back at the not-Princess. The demi-god scowled at his interfering miniature and huffed out a breath.

"Its not that," her voice was small and soft. Maui caved to his conscience and turned around. Moana's eyes were staring out to sea, the hand on her necklace bumping the stones through her fingers.

"No?"

The Chieftain's daughter slid her eyes back onto his. "We believe, my people believe, that the tattoo you choose is what you come back as after you die." His expression was a flat line of incredulous and her temper flared. "Don't look at me like that. As if _you'd_ know, Mr Demi-god."

She had a point… Mini-Maui tallied another score line and grinned. The scoreboard had lengthened across his pectoral muscle over the last few years, embarrassingly weighted in her favour. Maui flicked a finger and his miniature went flying.

"All right, fine," he held up his hands placating. Honestly, it wasn't like he always tried to upset her. Better show an interest, repair the damage, now that she'd finally gotten to the point of what she wanted to talk about. "What were you thinking of having?"

Assuming that's why she was raising it, of course. He had a number of awe-inspiring tattoos. His body was a tapestry of brilliance. It was only natural she'd want to ask advice from Greatness. Its okay, its okay, you're welcome.

She'd stopped looking at him again, eyes off to the side, all silent. He frowned a little then smirked slyly. Clearly she needed some prompting…

"So, a chicken?"

She looked at him so fast her hair whipped back around and smacked her in the face. She glared at him through the dark strands, swiping them back impatiently.

"No? What about a crab?" He measured her reaction. "A fish?"

Moana's lips had twisted into a half-amused, half-irritated smile, eyes narrowed but not-quite-angry. Smoothly she dropped herself to the floor, folding gracefully into a kneeling position, feet tucked under.

"Actually, I was thinking a giant hawk."

He froze, eyes wide. Mini Maui had been trekking his way over the shoulder and his jaw hit the deck. She'd sounded sincere. There had been a get-back-at-you bite in the delivery, but the words were true. Even if he had doubted the words, her posture wasn't lying. She waited silently, face shining with innocent anticipation of his reaction. A 'well? What do you think?' tilt to her head.

It took him a long moment to break the stunned silence, to find words.

"What?" It wasn't his most eloquent moment he had to admit.

"A giant hawk," she repeated, curling her legs around and resting back on one hand.

"…but that's…not…" He mentally shook himself. "Shouldn't you be something…" he made a wavy motion with his hand, "…ocean related."

"I thought about it," her hand closed protectively around her necklace. The one he knew her grandmother had given her. "I thought about a Ray. That's what my Grandma had. It spread across her back like it was wings."

He looked at her narrowly, "So why?"

"I am Moana," she said softly, but with conviction. "Not my Grandmother."

He folded his arms across his chest, going for unimpressed, trying to hide the sudden feeling that he wanted to protect himself.

"So, pick a Dolphin." It sounded angrier than he meant, and she quirked a surprised eyebrow.

"You think I need a better reason?"

She pushed herself to her feet and faced him down. The breeze caught her hair as it caught the sail and her eyes shut, feeling the play of air on her skin. She hummed under her breath, _"The Tides, the Sun, the Sky,"_ and he felt his heart gallop in his chest.

"You're the demi-god of the wind and sea. I didn't think I'd need to explain it to you." She opened her eyes and they seared him with their scrutiny. Their brilliance. "As Chieftain's daughter I've run over the islands you pulled from the waves and as a Wayfinder I've travelled the seas like you taught me." Her voice was solemn but there was a wistfulness threaded through. "The sky is not something I've been able to touch." She raised a hand as though reading the stars, spinning in a circle, eyes tracking the sky, and lowered it again, turning back to him as she did. "Was that reason good enough?"

His posture was a shouted no. He was scowling, face set, and her expression faltered.

"A - giant - hawk?"

She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to one side.

"It's your favourite."

For some reason he hadn't expected her to say it. To admit it. His surprise must've shown on his face because hers softened.

"You didn't think I'd leave you alone for all eternity, did you?" There was a tease in the tilt of her smile, the quirk of her eyebrows. "Not when we make such a great team."

He hadn't thought about it, hadn't wanted to think about it, what he would do after she had succumbed to the fate of mortality, but _she _had. She had worried about what he would do without her.

"I wouldn't waste your choice on me kid."

The shadow over his heart was not unlike a bruise, and she was dangerously close to touching it. She had a habit of doing that, this mortal of his.

"Maui…"

He dropped his gaze away from her and down onto himself, watching each tattoo telling a story of loneliness, rejection, or failure. Success was always alone…except for…He startled as her hand rested on his chest, warm and calloused, over the tattoo that he'd been fixated on. The one of her. He traced his eyes back up her arm to earnest eyes.

"Its not a waste." When she said it like that, looked at him like that, he almost believed her. She didn't say _'you're not a waste'_ but he heard it. She dropped her hand away like she'd suddenly realised it had been still too long. The silence was too intense, too feely for his comfort so he shook it off, retreated back into familiar territory.

"So what?" he huffed with an eye-roll, sounding borderline sarcastic, "you're just going to annoy me for the rest of existence?"

And the flash of her smile as she looked at him was so brilliant in its vivacity, its hope, its joy, that he lost his breath. It was moments like this, so unscripted, so genuine and unaffected, that was slowly healing his brokenness.

"Yup." She shoulder-barged him as she passed, having no impact except as an affectionate gesture, and grinned at him over her shoulder. "There's no one I'd rather spend eternity with."


End file.
